Modern Design Classic Watches

3- Official Swiss Railway Watch (1986) by Hans Hilfiker & the Mondaine Team

A clock has the responsibility for being accurate and highly legible. A study in legibility for Swiss Railway station clocks yielded what became an internationally known watch face design — being synonymous with functionalism and minimalism. In a stark departure from the rounded numerals and decorated hands of the train station clocks from previous eras, Mondaine’s goal was to improve the utility of the clock face itself. While only minimalist in appearance, the Mondaine clock face was actually a genius way of increasing one’s ability to accurately read a clock face from far away, a design that was successfully imported to a wristwatch size shortly after the larger clocks were popularized.

4- Seiko 06LC Quartz Watch (1973) by the Seiko Epson Design Team

A pioneering design, the Seiko 06LC also housed a still unproven new technology for a watch. This was the first digital quartz watch with a six-digit LCD screen. Features included the ability to set the time to the second and independent adjustment of the hours and minutes. What was an experimental timepiece proved to be the force that almost killed the mechanical watch industry before it rebounded much later. Seiko’s superior screen was housed in a gently squared case necessary for the shape of the LCD panel. Three buttons replaced the traditional adjustment crown, signaling the start of a timepiece revolution.

5- Porsche Design Chronograph (1972) by Ferdinand Porsche

The man who gave us the original Porsche 911 also designed the world’s most utilitarian modern watch that you still wanted to wear. The deceptively simple lines on the 1972 Porsche Design Chronograph provided a perfect blend of function and form, almost hiding the modern minimalist design elements. Dr. Ferdinand Porsche was lucky enough to have the (then new) Valjoux 7750 automatic movement as a base for what has become a template design for almost every subsequent chronograph watch. The typically matte-finished watch with its lug-less design was an understated piece of wrist instrumentation that was a perfect complement for any “calculated” man.